


Mother Figure

by Caraidean



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: 5 years pre-Path of Radiance, A family can be a 6-year-old empress; two pegasus knights; and a depressed Sage, Adoption, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Other, Tellius Rare Week 2018, The Tanith/Sephiran is only there if you really really squint but let me have my rarepairs okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 16:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13721235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caraidean/pseuds/Caraidean
Summary: For Tellius Rare Week 2018 (Day One Prompt: Family). With his and Sigrun’s duties torn between work and Sanaki, Sephiran decides to bring Deputy Commander Tanith into the fold as another of Sanaki’s guardians.





	Mother Figure

Tanith couldn’t really remember the last time she felt nervous. Was it when she had first entered the Holy Guard’s academy? Yes, that was likely it. Of course, her own discipline and abilities had made her get through it without any fuss past that. She had graduated at a record age, only eighteen, and spent the next ten years climbing the ranks gradually and effectively. The former Empress had even singled her out for an early promotion, giving her the rank of Captain in her mid-twenties, something unheard of at the time.

Perhaps she shouldn’t be so surprised, then. A year had passed since Sanaki was made the new Apostle, and since then her rise up the ranks had continued. With the former Deputy Commander retiring, citing grief over her inability to defend the previous Apostle as well as her skills declining with age, Tanith had been… _surprised_ that she’d been chosen. Proud, of course, but surprised.

Now the 28-year-old split her time between helping train new recruits,  and working as one of Sanaki’s bodyguards. Not that a six-year-old child really needed much protection, basically surrounded by knights at all time anyways, not to mention mages and priests of immense talent. It had taken her some time to get used to training the others, and now she had her first real shift as Sanaki’s…guardian.

Which meant, of course, it was her first time meeting Prime Minister Sephiran. Her first thought was that she hadn’t been expecting the Apostle’s legal guardian to look so young, but perhaps he’d had a similar experience to her own. He seemed her age, she reflected idly, before giving him a salute.

“Prime Minister.” She said smoothly, pushing her own feelings of nervousness down behind a barrier of strict professionalism. “Deputy Commander Tanith. I’m here to take over guarding Sanaki while you return to Persis.”

"You were at the coronation, weren't you?" He asked after a moment, the woman pausing. She hadn't expected to be recognized - having spent her time standing behind Sigrun, watching and trying not to smile too widely when the Apostle tripped over her own robes. Eventually she nodded, keeping her face straight even as amusement at the memory was in her eyes. 

"I was. Commander Sigrun's second."

"I see." He said calmly, eyes matching hers for a brief second. She resisted the urge to panic, realizing that for all she was proud of her professionalism, if there was anyone in Begnion that could read her like an open book - she was standing in front of him. "And what did you think?"

She could give the same tired platitudes, about it being a grand moment, emotional - but he would tell she was lying, she knew that much. Instead she decided to be honest, shoulders sagging a tiny distance as she spoke. "Amusing, at first?"

"Amusing?"

"Well. She tripped over her robes five times on the walk down the hall." She pointed out in her defense, but the amusement in her voice faded to be replaced with something darker. "After that, when I had the time to think about it...disgust."

"Really?" Sephiran had been caught off guard by that bit, she could tell. "How so?"

"...she kept tripping over her robes." She said distantly as she recalled the day, hand unconsciously wrapping around the hilt of her sword, fingers gripping tightly. "Everyone was talking about how excellent it was to have an Apostle again. About how magnificent she looked. How reassuring, how it would help the country unite again - and all I could see was a child falling over her robes. Nobody even questioned this - so, yes, Duke Persis. Disgust. She is... _far_ too young for this."

There was a moment of silence before Sephiran let out a small, almost musical chuckle. "Well. You are a far kinder woman than I had expected you to be, oh Great Demon of Begnion. Very well, I leave her in your care. I shall return as fast as I am able."

"That's it?" Tanith asked incredulously, starting after him with a confused look on her face. "Now hold on just a minute! What am I even supposed to do-"

"You'll figure it out! Sanaki's a smart child." Sephiran gave her a beatific smile as he headed out the doors, giving a slight wave as they slammed shut in her face. Tanith stood, stunned for a few moments before turning and moving towards the Apostle's room. Very well...how hard could this be?

* * *

"You look a little ragged." Sephiran said, bemused. Tanith paused, bent over the Apostle's desk with a finger touching the map the two were going over together. The child let out an excited yell, jumping out of her chair and practically sprinting towards Sephiran as the Prime Minister let out a small laugh, kneeling down to meet her. "Well, hello, Your Majesty. Have you been behaving yourself?"

"Hardly." Tanith grumbled, turning to face the two of them. Sanaki had regained her composure, standing straight and politely waiting for the two to finish their conversation before interjecting further. "She can be flighty, this one. Can't you?"

"I did apologize." Ashera's Apostle and ruler of the most powerful country in Tellius pouted. Sephiran let out a laugh, raising an eyebrow at her. 

"Sanaki? What did you do?"

"She decided to give her guards the slip and sneak out onto the roof." Tanith growled, eye twitching at the memory. "She was about to fall off when I finally found her. And what did such an act get you for a reward,  _Your Imperial Highness_?"

The sheer venom and disappointment dripping from Tanith's words were enough to make Sephiran and Sanaki both flinch, and eventually Sanaki sighed. 

"Confined to rooms for two days and given double history lessons..." She said, crestfallen. Sephiran chuckled, lightly patting the girl's head and nodding towards the door. 

"Oh, go on then. Consider yourself excused, Your Majesty. On you go."

With that, Sanaki walked out the door, trying her best to look dignified as Tanith's eye twitched. Sephiran stood before her, lips twisting up into a smile before he finally started to laugh. "My, my, Deputy Commander! You  _ **grounded**_  the  _Empress_?"

"She deserved it." Tanith contested hotly, a flush rising to her cheeks. "She could have gotten herself hurt, or killed!"

"Sigrun never managed to bring herself to do it." Sephiran chuckled, wiping away a tear and sighing happily. "Ah, well. We seem to have chosen quite well, hmm? You're a natural mother figure to the young woman - I certainly can't keep her in line half as well as you seem to." 

"That's because you and the Commander seem to crumble to her every demand." Tanith grumbled, deciding to let his backhanded compliments just slide away as she stalked past him to follow after her charge. "I was taught in training that it was perfectly acceptable to ignore stupid orders, and trust me, she gives out plenty of those."

"My, my." Sephiran's lips quirked again as he fell into step next to her. "Well, do as you think best, Deputy Commander. I promise that should the Empress attempt to have you arrested for treason, I'mm get you released."

"She tried once." Tanith admitted, lips twitching into a small smile. "She didn't want to eat her vegetables."

"However did you respond?"

"I told her that i would happily turn myself into the authorities once they returned and hoped she would forget about it." Tanith's smile morphed into a proper grin, unable to quite hold back the memory as she looked over her shoulder at the Duke of Persis. "I suppose that means you have to arrest me now, hm?"

"Hah!" Sephiran let out a short bark of laughter, putting a hand on her shoulder for the briefest of moments. "Hardly. How could I arrest someone as fair and kind as you, Lady Tanith?"

"Don't make me cut that hand off." Tanith's grin reduced back to a smirk as she rolled her eyes at his words, the two's bantering cut off by Sanaki's excited calling for them both to hurry up. Sephiran's irritatingly peaceful smile refused to leave his face as he inclined his head towards the source of the calls, raising an eyebrow at her. 

"Well? Your daughter's calling you."

"I hear her." Tanith said, a little curt as she headed out into the gardens. Sephiran let out a satisfied grin at that, resting against his staff for a brief moment to look at the two fondly. 

"Well. She's not denying it." He said, to nobody in particular, before walking down the garden steps to join the two.


End file.
